It started at last year's Dallas DanceFest. Carter Alexander, who makes his living as a ballet instructor, was impressed by the duet Flower in Rain and approached the choreographer, Hailey Von Schlehenried, about working together on a project. AKA:ballet was born.

The result of their collaboration, with Bruce Wood Dance artistic associate Albert Drake also on board, will be unveiled July 27 when the group premieres six new pieces at the Latino Cultural Center.

Alexander and Von Schlehenried have watched the Dallas dance scene explode with new companies and an influx of performers. With AKA:ballet, they hope to be a bigger part of it.

"That was one of our main goals with this project, to create more opportunities for dancers and choreographers and something meaningful for the public to enjoy," Von Schlehenried says.

They have recruited experienced dancers free for the summer from their regular gigs with local troupes, including Texas Ballet Theater and Avant Chamber Ballet.

Kaitlyn McDermitt, a former company member of Avant Chamber Ballet, jumps while looking at her dance partner, Riley Moyano of Texas Ballet Theater, during a rehearsal by AKA:ballet at Southern Methodist University.

(Carly Geraci/Staff Photographer)

Alexander and Von Schlehenried are each choreographing two pieces. Drake is making a duet for him and his wife, Bruce Wood dancer Emily Drake. Rounding out the bill, Alyssa Harrington, a former member of Dallas Black Dance Theatre, is creating a duet for her and Addison Ector of New York's Complexions Contemporary Ballet.

Though the planning has been going on for some time, their four-hour rehearsals, five nights a week, didn't begin until July.

"We are putting this show together in a short space of time," Von Schlehenried says. "While it's not the easiest thing to do, it's amazing how things come together when you're in this type of creative environment with dancers who are excited to be part of the process."

Albert and Emily Drake perform in Carved In Stone for Bruce Wood Dance. He is creating a new duet for him and his wife that will premiere at the debut of AKA:ballet at the Latino Cultural Center on July 27.

(Ashley Landis/Staff Photographer)

Alyssa Harrington (foreground) and Jasmine Black in Vespers at Dallas Black Dance Theatre. For the upcoming AKA:ballet show, Harrington is choreographing a duet for her and Addison Ector of New York's Complexions Contemporary Ballet.

(Steven Ray)

Growth in the local dance scene has begun spilling over into the usually dead summer months. The same weekend as the AKA:ballet performance, Muscle Memory Dance Theatre is hosting its third annual "Made in a Day" showcase at Life in Deep Ellum. Once again, five choreographers have been chosen to each create a new work with 33 randomly cast dancers in just a few hours.

Dallas DanceFest, renamed Dallas Dances, then returns for its fifth edition in September, with performances by 28 mostly local groups over two nights. "A lot of people think that the wealth of Dallas is in sports, but the wealth of Dallas is in the arts," Alexander says. "There's just something going on right now."

Amanda Fairweather of Texas Ballet Theater is held up by Bruce Wood Dance's Adrián Aguirre during an AKA:ballet rehearsal.

(Carly Geraci/Staff Photographer)

Alexander grew up in Cheyenne, Wyo., and moved to Dallas to finish high school at the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. After graduating, he danced for eight years with Hartford Ballet, Kansas City Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet, despite a weakened left hip from a childhood battle with Perthes disease.

After retiring, he taught in Massachusetts and Arizona and was principal of the Miami City Ballet School before returning to North Texas and joining Plano's Chamberlain School of Ballet in 2013. This year, he choreographed new work for Ballet Dallas. In August, he resumes a position as visiting artist-in-residence at SMU.

His choreography for the AKA:ballet show is about relationships, he says. They include a work on pointe for three couples set to an original score commissioned from composer Martin Morgan, which Alexander describes as "fluidity with breaks." His other piece is a duet that uses the modern-sounding Sarabande movement of Bach's Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor.

Von Schlehenried, a native of South Africa, emigrated with her parents when she was 12. Her mother, Angela Sham, owns the Royale Ballet Dance Academy where she teaches. She became interested in choreography around the time she was graduating from high school, though her mom remembers her making her own steps around the house much earlier.

"I started having ideas for dances. I wanted to make the decisions," Von Schlehenried recalls. "My style tests the limits of the classical vocabulary. How far off point can you go before you fall?"

Choreographer Hailey Von Schlehenried is also a flamenco dancer, seen here during a rehearsal with Orchestra of New Spain.

(Rose Baca/Staff Photographer)

She studied musical theater and flamenco and continues to perform as a guest artist with Daniel de Córdoba Bailes Españoles. Her ascendancy as a choreographer started in 2014 when she was first accepted into Regional Dance America's National Choreography Institute and was mentored by renowned dance-makers Ronald K. Brown and Val Caniparoli. The training led to a commission from San Jose Ballet in 2016.

Then last year, on her second try, she won a commission from Avant Chamber Ballet to be part of its Women's Choreography Project. For AKA:ballet, she is creating two quartets, one set to A Pile of Dust by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, the other to two pieces by Sweden's Uno Helmersson.

Like Alexander, Von Schlehenried starts with music. "Something just hits me when I hear it," she says. "I see a pattern or a whole phrase happening in my head. It'll spark a lift or a little move. Things evolve in the studio because you have bodies."

Hailey Von Schlehenried (center) watches dancers Riley Moyano and Amanda Fairweather of Texas Ballet Theater rehearse one of her pieces for the upcoming debut of AKA:ballet. The project was conceived by choreographer Carter Alexander after he saw the pair perform a Von Schlehenried work at last year's Dallas DanceFest.

(Carly Geraci/Staff Photographer)

AKA:ballet is a one-off for now but could turn into a regular summer project or more.

"I'm hoping we can get more collaborations going and create more work for dancers and choreographers," Von Schlehenried says. "Hopefully in the future, we can make it bigger and better."

Manuel Mendoza, a freelance writer and a former staff critic, covers dance for The Dallas Morning News.

Details

July 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Latino Cultural Center, 2600 Live Oak St. $15-$20. 866-468-3399. ticketweb.com. AKA:ballet.

From left: Carter Alexander, Hailey Von Schlehenried and Albert Drake are the choreographers behind AKA:ballet, a project to create six new works premiering July 27 at the Latino Cultural Center.